


Alexander/Hephaistion modern AU snippet

by kisahawklin



Series: Unfinished and discontinued fic [11]
Category: Alexander (2004)
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-11
Updated: 2011-07-11
Packaged: 2017-12-26 18:27:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/968868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kisahawklin/pseuds/kisahawklin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alex and Hephaistion and their next incarnation</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alexander/Hephaistion modern AU snippet

**Author's Note:**

> This came from a fabulous prompt from Yuletide 2011 - I got this much on a binge while trying to write a pinch hit while we were driving home for Christmas. Then I realized just how huge it was going to be, and gave it up for a lost cause and wrote porn instead. :)

"We've done boring, Hephaistion," Alexander says, looking down Earth spinning below. "And we got divorced, if you remember. I don't think you like being a woman."

"Not a _housewife_ , Alexander. I couldn't _do_ anything. I couldn't even dress myself! I couldn't vote! I hated the early nineteen hundreds. Besides, you didn't like being a woman either." Hephaistion had liked being a woman, actually, the luscious feel of curves. And he's always liked long hair. Alexander was an excellent lover, but that was never a problem between them. He has always been second to Alexander's ambition, but being second to every man in the world chafed.

"I don't like the body," Alexander says, avoiding Hephaistion's eyes. "It feels uncomfortable."

"I think you need more experience with it," Hephaistion says delicately. "And a better lover. Why would you hook up with that jerk, Nils?"

Alexander shrugs. "It's different down there. Too hard to see clearly. Maybe we should both be women sometime."

"Mmm," Hephaistion says. "I like that. But not this time. I miss the fame, Alexander." He has always liked the thrill of being Alexander's favorite. He isn't one for direct spotlight, but he always enjoys being the best beloved of the man with the power.

"I don't think world conquerer is a reasonable occupation these days." Alexander laughs. Hephaistion grins and takes his hand. "We were spoiled, Hephaistion. Nothing's ever going to live up to Macedonia."

"It doesn't matter," Hephaistion says. "As long as we're together, the rest of it works out." He brings Alexanders's knuckles to his mouth for a kiss. "So let's do something fun. We could sing – singers are famous these days. Or act! I like the movies."

Alexander thinks on it for a while. "I don't know. I don't think I want to be an entertainer. It seems so…"

Hephaistion nods. Flashy has never been Alexander's style. "Politics?"

"Oh, I have never had the stomach for that," Alexander says. "What about sports? Football?"

"Oh!" Hephaistion says, grinning widely. "Spain? I loved Spain!"

"Oh, not that football," Alexander says. "I was thinking American football."

Hephaistion blinks. It's been a century since they've lived in the States and it's a very different place these days. There are troubles, as there are in every incarnation, but things for women and lovers have gotten a little easier. He misses moving his body for a goal. "Football, he says, "I like that."

~~~

Bobby moves to town when Xander's seven. He seems older than Xander, bigger and a little tired of the world. He has long hair – it should get him teased but doesn't for some reason. He has a quiet calm that keeps the rest of the kids away. 

"I'm Xander." 

He introduces himself at recess, hanging onto a red rubber ball, one of the smaller ones they use to play four square. Bobby looks him over and focuses his gaze on it.

"Hi," Bobby says. He keeps looking at the ball and not at Xander. "Wanna play catch?"

"Okay," Xander says, though he's kind of scrawny next to Bobby. 

Bobby throws hard, but without any aim at all. Xander spends half his time chasing after the ball as it rolls down the hill. They trade places and Xander starts throwing it wide on purpose, but Bobby is fast, and he catches almost everything Xander throws, even the crazy ones way out of the way. They're breathing hard when the recess whistle blows to bring them inside.

~~~

"Can you come over and play?" Bobby asks him after school. He looks a little shy, not quite looking at Xander.

"Sure," Xander says, though he should ask his mom first. She doesn't get home until six, so he's got a couple of hours anyway. "I'll have to call my mom and tell her where I'll be."

"We can do that from the car," Bobby says. Xander's impressed; his mom won't let him touch her cell phone. 

Bobby leads them to a long, sleek black car, and a man in a uniform steps out and opens the door. "Thanks, Mac," Bobby says, climbing in.

Xander climbs in behind him, unsure if he should thank him too. There are two seats, one facing forward and one facing backward, and Xander doesn't know which one to pick. He sits next to Bobby on the forward facing one. "You have a driver?" Xander asks reverently. He's never known anyone with a driver. It's not really that type of town; there are only a few expensive homes and most of them are on the outskirts, back in the hills with lots of land.

"Yup," Bobby says, brushing his hair out of his eyes. "Mac's the best. Dad let me ride all the way here with him when we moved."

"How far was it?" Xander asks. He thought Bobby talked a little funny, but he couldn't put his finger on why.

"Pretty far. It took more than a day to drive." Bobby stares out the window at the town going by, and Xander realizes they're heading out of town, not just to the outskirts but past the county marker sign. "We used to live in Connecticut."

"Oh," Xander says, keeping an eye on the road. "How far away do you live now?" He has thoughts of driving all the way across the country to Connecticut. 

"Oh, not that far. Outside Appleton. Do you know Appleton? It's very small."

 _Not as small as Brillion_ , Xander thinks, and then thinks his mom is going to kill him. "I have to call my mom," he says. There's a phone in the door of the car, and Bobby hands it to him. The numbers are on the handset, so he dials and holds it to his ear.

 _"Hello, this is the Schuh residence. We aren't home, so please leave a message after the beep."_ He can hear himself laughing in the background; he had been making a mess of the kitchen trying to make chocolate chip cookies.

"Hi mom, I'm going to play at Bobby's house." Bobby hands him a slip of paper with a number on it. "His number is 920-555-3918, if you want to call back." 

They sit in silence as the scenery goes past; Xander doesn’t'get to go to Appleton very much, so he doesn't recognize any of the roads or houses or bits of forest. "Does it snow here?" Bobby asks. "I hate places where it doesn't snow."

"Usually," Xander says. "It did last year. My aunt Julie says when she was little they got twenty feet of snow and had the whole winter off of school, but I don't believe her."

"Good," Bobby says, nodding. He looks back out the window and Xander just watches him closely for a while. He was quiet in class all day, but he knew the answer every time Mr. Bradley called on him. "I like this part," he says, as they turn onto a small gravel road. There are thick trees on either side.

Xander scoots to the other seat, staring out the window at the acres of forest. It thins out into very green grass, and that's when Xander realizes this isn't a road but a driveway. He cranes his neck around to look at the house, but he only catches a glimpse of the corner of it before the huge statue in the driveway catches his attention. It's actually a fountain; there are little fat angels and fishes spitting water back into a pool underneath them. The car pulls around and he gets his first glimpse of Bobby's house. He can tell it's really, really big, but without any other houses around it, it's hard to compare it to his house, or any of the houses in Brillion.

"Wow," Xander says. "You live in a castle."

Bobby shrugs. "It's smaller than our last house, but that one didn't have forests. We had a lot of neighbors, though, and there's no one around here to play with at all."

Mac lets them out of the car and Bobby takes off running for the garage. Xander follows, nowhere near as fast, and when he catches up, he sees rows of shelves with all kinds of balls and bats and nets and racquets and equipment he doesn't even recognize. "Catch?" Bobby says, holding up a football.

~~~

Bobby and Xander spend all of their time together over the next several years, mostly Xander going to Bobby's house after school and weekends, but sometimes Bobby stays at Xander's house, when they feel like video games or watching TV. Bobby's dad doesn't approve of video games; he thinks Bobby will get fat.

Xander's mom doesn't seem to like Bobby at first, at least not until Mrs. Landye invites her over for tea while he and Bobby play one afternoon, and then their moms are almost as close as they are.

"Robert Fine Landye!" Bobby's mom shouts, waving them over when Betsy brings out a plate of sandwiches and pitcher of apple cider. 

"Your middle name is Fine?" Xander asks, laughing. "Your family is funny."

"It's my mother's maiden name," Bobby says snottily, and it's the first time Xander's ever seen him act stuck up since they met. "Who are you named after?"

"A character on Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Xander says, laughing like he always does. He's mostly glad he wasn't named Angel or Willow. His parents loved TV and his name is the only thing that survived his dad moving out.

"Buffy the what?" Bobby asks, laughing. 

"Oh, shut up, Fine."

~~~

The nickname sticks, though Xander shortens it to Fi. The rest of the class doesn't really get him, so they just go with whatever Xander says, like they do most of the time.

Xander and Fi get pretty serious about football when they have middle school tryouts, and Xander is picked to be the quarterback. The coach can't decide what to do with Fi, so he alternates between running back and receiver. They practice even more in Fi's yard now, and sometimes a few of the other kids will come over too, so they can play three on three. The other kids say it isn't fair when Xander and Fi are on the same team, so they generally play on opposite sides and it's an even split on who wins.

By the time they're getting ready to go to high school, they're approached by people from several private schools with scholarships. Xander knows his mom can't afford it even if he does get a scholarship; she'd never be able to get him to school and back.

"Oh, come on," Fi says. "You can stay with us. Or we'll come pick you up in the mornings."

"You'd have to get up at five in the morning!" Xander says. "That's ridiculous. And you know my mom would never just let me come live with you."

"Why not?" Fi says. "You're here all the time anyway. What's the difference if you stay on school nights too?"

"She'd be embarrassed," Xander says. Fi doesn't get these things sometimes. "Like she can't take care of me."

He can see Fi wanting to say something but politely holding back. He hates that.

"Fuck you, Robert Fine Landye," Xander says. "Not everything is about your family's money."

Xander turns to leave. He's walked home from Fi's house twice before when they've fought. It's twelve miles and he can get home in under three hours if he jogs part of the way.

"Wait, Xander," Fi says, running to catch up with him. "I'll go to Brillion. I don't care where we go, we just have to go together."

Xander stops and stares hard at Fi. "Will your dad allow you to go to public school?" 

"My mom will let me," Fi says. "I'll go wherever you go, Xander, you decide."

~~~

They do end up going to private school. Xander and his mom move in with the Landyes and after the third straight week of catching Fi sneaking into Xander's room, Fi's mom puts them together in one of the bigger rooms. They decorate it with pictures of their favorite football players and other random posters. Fi likes music so there are a bunch of different bands on the wall, and Xander likes fast cars, so there are Mustangs and Jaguars and Porsches.

"I heard my mom worrying that we don't have girlfriends," Fi says one night that summer as they lie in their beds.

"Who cares if we don't have girlfriends?" Xander asks. "Girls don't play football."

"You don't like any of the girls from our class?" Fi asks. They won't see them again, Xander knows, since they're going to high school in Appleton and the rest of them are either going to Brillion high or one of the parochial schools in Manitowoc. "Amy Bastian likes you. She has since fourth grade."

Xander considers the girls in their class. He's known all of them for years and none of them make him want to do stupid stuff like the rest of the boys in class talk about. "Not really," he says. "I don't think I like kissing."

"How do you know, if you've never kissed anyone?" Fi asks, whispering now. Xander knows their moms sometimes sit outside their door to see if they've actually gone to bed.

"It just sounds icky," Xander says. "You don't think it sounds gross?"

Fi hums. "I want to try it," he says. "But not with any of the girls from our class."

"Who then?" Xander asks, thinking of some of the singers Fi likes, or maybe Scarlett Johanssen.

"We could try it," Fi says, "just to see what the fuss is about. And then we'll have practice when we find girls we actually like."

Xander gets a chill down his spine when Fi says it. Suddenly kissing doesn't seem quite so gross. "Okay," he says, hopping off his bed and padding over to Fi's. He doesn't quite know how to kiss someone, so he leans forward toward Fi and hopes they'll sort of meet in the middle.

When their lips finally touch, it feels like a touchdown pass, like Fi is there to catch his throw and run it in for a score. It feels like more than that, even, it feels like coming home, like this is the only place in his whole life that he was meant to be.

~~~


End file.
